The 10th edition of Beirut International Film Festival is to start on Wednesday October 6, 2010 at Unesco Palace where the screening of “Somewhere”, directed by Sofia Coppola, winner of the Venice Film Festival “Golden Lion”.

Coppola also is the director “Marie-Antoinette” in 2006 and “Lost in Translation” in 2004. Her new film “Somewhere” speaks of the radical changes Hollywood bad-boy Johnny Marco was forced to make to his life of excess upon receiving an unexpected visit from his 11-year old daughter. The cast includes Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Michelle Monoghan and Benicio Del Toro.

The festival screenings kick off Thursday October 7 at “Sofil Metropolis” cinema. Eight screenings will take place simultaneously, as the first starts at 3 PM and the last at 10 PM; however, they do not include films participating in the Middle Eastern film/feature competition. Read the rest of this entry »

Beirut -October 4th, 2010 – “Beirut International Film Festival” management said today that Italian film director Luca Guadagnino will attend the screening of his movie “Io sono l’Amore” (I am love) during the closing of the festivals’s 10th edition on October 13, 2010.

The management issued a statement, saying the most prominent guests of the festival, which is to be declared open this October 6, include Bosnian director of “Cirkus Columbia”, Danis Tanovic, a movie showcasing under the International Panorama category.

The festival also hosts Belgian director of Moroccan origin Nabil Ben Yadir, director of “The Barons” (Les Barons), Ali Mostafa, director of UAE film “City of Life”, which featured also at the inauguration of the Gulf Film Festival last April in Dubai and winner of the Special Jury Award.

In addition to Iraqi-Kurdish Shawkat Amin Korki, director of “Kick off”, winner of many awards including the Best Film prize at the Gulf Film Festival. Swiss director Alexandre Monnier’s movie “Yanoosak“, co-directed with Lebanese director Elie Khalifé is competing in the same section.

The list of guests includes directors of films to be featured under Middle Eastern Short Film Competition category: Saudi director Abdullah Al-Eyaf (“Aayyesh”), winner of the Best Short Film Award at the Gulf Film Festival hosted by Dubai last April and Saudi director Ahd Kamel (“The Shoemaker”), resident of the United States and winner of Gulf Film Festival Second Award, Short Feature Film category. Read the rest of this entry »

A documentary film about the wreck of a country that we made for ourselves

50 personalities describe how beautiful Lebanon is and how ugly we have made it going through pollution, corruption, traffic system, giving solutions among which the near elections out of which we can make a big change.

The movie ends with hope for a better future if the Lebanese youth overcome their ignorance and fear and lead the way themselves to a new civil country.

Grendizer is a unifying figure for an entire generation of Lebanese who grew up during the country’s bitter 15-year civil war. When Beirut was being torn to pieces by local warlords and their foreign-funded militias, the Grendizer cartoons were a welcome distraction for children who were more likely to miss school because of shelling than chicken pox.